Ted Turner: Iraq no better off

2005-11-29 10:07

Manhattan - Media mogul Ted Turner said Iraq is no better off - after the United States-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein - than it was before the war.

The philanthropist and founder of CNN also said the US and Russia still had thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at each other on a "hair trigger," and he was afraid someone could make the mistake to launch them, including President George W Bush.

Turner said: "You have to question ... the president on a lot of decisions he's made. He might just think launching those weapons would be a good thing to do. ... He thought Iraq was."

Turner also raised concerns about overpopulation, poverty and hunger. He said that in the future, superpowers would derive their authority from education, health care, and science and technology, and encouraged the US to focus on those areas.

Turner said: "We are going to survive together, or we are going to perish together."

- AP